Episode Six: On the Lord’s Prayer, Pt.1

Episode Six: The Lord’s Prayer, Pt.1

Andrewes on Understanding God as Our Father in Heaven

And Sanctifying His Name

October 3, 2020

 

Sermons 7 - 9 of Lancelot Andrewes’

Nineteen Sermons upon Prayer in General,

and The Lord’s Prayer in Particular.

 

Copies can be found in Lancelot Andrewes Works,

Sermons, Volume Five, or on The Project Canterbury Website.

 

Summary:

      With these first 3 sermons of the 13 sermon collection, Andrewes teaches on the often over-looked, or unconsidered, realties contained in the intentional wording of “Our Father,” “Which art in Heaven,” and “Hollowed be Thy Name.”

Outline:

1. “Our Father” (Connecting to the perfection of God’s goodness and merciful nature)
   1. Benefits of Praying to God
      1. The guarantee of being heard when we prayer
      2. The gift of being able to pray to God as “Father”
         1. It reinforces our trust in God’s goodwill and favor toward us
         2. It balances our experience of kingly fear with bold confidence (Kingship implies His ability to answer prayers; Fatherhood implies His willingness to answer those prayers for us).
   2. Ramifications of having God as “Our Father”
      1. Calling God “Father” demonstrates the love we bear to Him
      2. Calling God “Our” demonstrates the love we bear toward our neighbor (other children of God)
      3. Knowing God as “Father” assures of His favor and gives us hope
      4. Challenges to accepting God as “Our Father”
         1. His Majesty ≠ our baseness (having been made from dust and ashes)
         2. His holiness ≠ our sinfulness
      5. Christ authorizes and enables us to call God “Our Father”
         1. We are given an exalted position above the Patriarchs and Heavenly Spirits
         2. By returning to God through the unique Son, we are given a unique relationship
      6. God as “Father” speaks of and acknowledges His affection for what He has made
         1. He is the Father of all creatures
         2. He is the Father of humanity, which He created in His own image
         3. He is the Father Who prepared the way back for His fallen children
         4. He is the Father of the New Birth granting us sonship
      7. As “Father” God’s affection toward us is shown to be immutable and excellent
         1. His fatherly love for us is unchanging in both chastening and blessing
         2. His fatherly love for us is excellent and abounding in forgiveness and mercy
      8. Additional benefits of God’s affection toward us being fatherly:
         1. It doesn’t take much to satisfy a Father’s anger
         2. There is a plentiful bounty of mercy
         3. We share in the inheritance He has prepared for His Son
      9. Out duty and response to God as “Our Father”
         1. To live as becomes His children and to repent/return to the Father when we haven’t
         2. To seek to grow up fully through His glorification/theosis as sons of God
         3. Respectfully reverence Him as our “Father”
         4. Realize all these benefits apply to everyone who refers to Him as their “Father”
         5. Pledge our love to all other brethren who say “Our” Father
            1. This fights against pride
            2. This prevents malice
            3. This teaches us to pray for others (fellow believers, those in open rebellion to God and their neighbor, and even our enemies).
2. “Which Art in Heaven” (Connecting to the excellency of God’s power and greatness)
   1. This phrase is meant to be and expression of the Father’s greatness and power more than a description of the location to where the prayer is being sent.
   2. The phrase is used to temper the boldness gain by the idea of God as “Father” and to maintain a balanced understanding of God (He is both merciful Father and powerful rulers).
   3. The phrase is used to increase our confidence and faith in God because, like heaven, He is immortal, immutable, and able to give that which is incorruptible.
   4. The phrase serves to prepare us for prayer by making us to look upward in our desires.
   5. The phrase serves to focus us upon asking for heavenly gifts and blessings
   6. The phrase serves to beckon us to discover our true selves which were meant for that heavenly country
      1. In desiring to be in heaven, we begin to desire wanting to learn its ways
      2. In desiring heaven, we begin to desire wanting to be in the LORD’s Presence
      3. In desiring heaven, we begin to desire wanting to live under the Father’s roof/rules/will
   7. The phrase serves to remind us of our duty to be heavenly children of our heavenly Father.
3. "Hollowed Be Thy Name"
   1. Praying for the ability to sanctify God’s Name is the 1st Petition to be sought in prayer
   2. It is a prayer to be enabled to have a reverend regard for God’s Name
      1. Therefore, it must come before even requests for the Kingdom
      2. Such regard distinguishes true worshippers from the rest because His Name conveys holiness to that which bears it. Such as:
         1. People (like the Old Testament priests or Paul in the New Testament)
         2. Places (like the house of God)
         3. Times (like sabbaths and feasts kept holy to the LORD)
         4. Proclamations (like preaching in God’s Name)
         5. Sacraments (like the Old Testament Bread of Presence or the New Testament Eucharist)
      3. Our regard for those things or persons which bear the Name demonstrate our estimation of God Himself
      4. Only the sanctified can sanctify the Name
   3. The duties that pertain to sanctifying the Name
      1. Pray not to misuse it
         1. Either by slip of the tongue or through contempt
         2. Sins of the heart: to speak inappropriately of the Name is equal to the action of treating God inappropriately (much like the relationship of lust and adultery)
      2. Pray to use it rightly
         1. In our hearts
         2. On our tongues
         3. By our actions
      3. Pray that others might do this, that all places may do this, and that all times may do this
         1. Pray that people will come to know His Name
         2. Pray that people will come to profess, worship, and honor His Name rightly
         3. Pray for those who once professed, worshipped, and honored His Name rightly may repent and do so once again
         4. Pray that God’s Name might get the glory alone
            1. Not ourselves nor other men
            2. Not those who, or things that, bear the Name in themselves apart from God Himself
         5. Prayer that people will be given the “Fear of God”
            1. Knowing their unworthiness
            2. Blessing God for His goodness
            3. Telling others of His goodness
            4. Praising God for His goodness
      4. Praise and Bless His Name for our Sanctification
      5. Remember that if we have the desire in us now to glorify His Name, He will not deny us the place to do it eternally.

 

Music & Sound Attributions:

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions “Lost Shoe” (www.sessions.blue). Sounds used are as follows: “Beer Can Opening” recorded by Mike Koening found at (http://soundbible.com/216-Beer-Can-Opening.html) and “Pouring Drink” recorded by Mike Koenig found at (http://soundbible.com/2115-Pouring-Drink.html).